U.S. minesweeper stuck on reef will be cut up, scrapped

Jan. 29, 2013
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A Jan. 19 photo from the Philippine military shows the U.S. Navy minesweeper Guardian grounded on the Tubbataha coral reef, which is part of a marine sanctuary and a U.N. World Heritage Site. / Philippine Western Command via /AFP/Getty Images

by Michael Winter, USA TODAY

by Michael Winter, USA TODAY

A U.S. minesweeper that ran aground on a coral reef in the Philippines two weeks ago cannot be freed and will be cut up to remove it, the Navy said Tuesday.

The wooden-hull USS Guardian hit Tubbataha Reef - a marine reserve and U.N. Heritage site - early Jan. 17 while sailing the Sulu Sea from Subic Bay to Indonesia. The ship's digital navigational chart, which was prepared by National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, miscalculated the reef's location about 8 nautical miles.

The 79 crewmembers evacuated safely, and the Navy said Monday that it had removed "anything deemed potentially harmful" - all of ship's estimated 15,000 gallons of diesel fuel, along with 671 gallons of lubricating oil, dry food supplies, paints, solvents and sailors' belongings.

The coral punctured the hull, flooding several compartments and peeling off fiberglass coating on the port side.

"Our only supportable option is to dismantle the damaged ship and remove it in sections," Capt. Darryn James, a spokesman for the U.S. Pacific Fleet, toldThe Navy Times.

Two heavy lift, ship-borne cranes are scheduled to arrive about Friday. They will stay in deep water to minimize further damage to the reef, which is about 80 nautical miles east-southeast of Palawan island. The United Nations describes the reef as a "pristine" home to more than 350 species of coral and 500 types of fish.

The dismantling operation is expected to take more than a month.

A Navy salvage ship, a survey vessel and a destroyer were on the scene already.

The Navy's investigation continues.

With the loss of the Guardian, which was launched in 1987 and home-ported in Japan, the Navy now has 13 "mine countermeasure" ships. The Navy Times calls the loss "a serious blow for the stressed U.S. mine force, which has been called on to expand operations in the Persian Gulf."

The fleet was to have been replaced by littoral combat ships, but the deployment has been delayed and plagued by cost overruns by defense contractors.